Sunday, July 24, 2011

Sox Offense Sweeps Mariners Away (7/24/11)

The Red Sox continued to explode offensively to give the Sox a convincing series sweep in a 12-8 slugfest today at Fenway Park.

In the top of the 1st, Tim Wakefield (6-3 5.15 ERA) took the mound and nabbed a ground ball from Ichiro to retire him to begin the first. Wake then plunked Brendan Ryan but Jacoby Ellsbury made a mad dash to snare a line drive off the bat of Dustin Ackley. Miguel Olivo then gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead with his 14th home run of the year into the Monster seats. Justin Smoak then smoked a line drive off the center field wall for a double. Mike Carp then stroked a single to right but Josh Reddick's herculean throw gunned down Smoak at home to end the inning. Ellsbury led the bottom of the frame off with a double down the line off Miguel Pineda (8-7 3.64 ERA). A wild pitch moved Ellsbury to third but Pedroia's fly out failed to bring home. Adrian Gonzalez then drove home Jacoby with a single to cut the deficit 2-1. Kevin Youkilis then crushed his 14th home run of the year to give the Sox a 3-2 lead. David Ortiz and Carl Crawford both hit shots off the Monster to put runners on second and third. Reddick then chased a pitch in the dirt for the second out. Jarrod Saltalamacchia then singled home Papi and Crawford to increase the lead 5-2. Marco Scutaro grounded out to end the inning.

Inspired by the offense, Wakefield struck out Adam Kennedy and Jack Cust to open the second. Franklin Gutierrez flied out to end the frame. Pineda whiffed Ellsbury to begin the bottom of the second before Pedroia grounded out. Gonzalez then struck out to end the inning.

Ichiro flied out to right to begin the 3rd before Brendan Ryan grounded out. Ackley doubled down the line but Wakefield got revenge by getting Olivo to ground out to end the frame. Youkilis grounded out to begin the bottom of the 3rd and Ortiz whiffed. Crawford singled and was caught stealing second only the ball came loose and Crawford stayed on second. Reddick then struck out to end the inning.

Justin Smoak flied out to begin the 4th before Reddick jumped up to steal a double from Carp. Kennedy grounded out to second to end the quick half inning. Saltalamacchia grounded out to begin the bottom half. Scutaro grounded out to short and Ellsbury grounded out to third to end the inning.

Wakefield opened the 5th by striking out Cust but trouble brewed when he walked Gutierrez and gave up a single to Ichiro that sent Gutierrez to third. Alert Wakefield then picked off Ichiro without allowing Gutierrez to score. Ryan then doubled off the wall to drive in the runner to cut the lead 5-3. Ackley flied out to end the inning with the lead still intact. Pedroia grounded out to begin the bottom half but Gonzalez singled off the glove of Ryan. Youk walked to chase Pineda from the game 1 out into the 5th. Aaron Laffey came on to face Ortiz who hit a nubber to third but Gonzalez outran Kennedy to the bag to load the bases. Crawford then singled home Gonzalez and Youkilis to extend the lead 7-3. Reddick then doubled home Ortiz as Jamey Wright began warming up. Saltlamacchia singled home Crawford and Reddick to give the Sox a commanding 10-3 lead and chase Laffey. Wright came on and retired Scutaro on a lineout to center. Ellsbury grounded out to end the inning but the Sox was now in complete control.

Wakefield returned for the 6th and induced a fly out from Olivo before getting Smoak to ground out. He then struck out Carp for this 2,000th of his career to end the frame. Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 21 games with a double off the monster. Gonzalez continued his rbi steak by singling home Pedroia to make it 11-3. Youk struck out and Ortiz flew out as his bat shattered into the bleachers. Crawford struck out to end the inning.

With the game seemingly out of reach, Yamico Navarro replaced Youk at third. Wake retired Kennedy to open the 7th but then things fell apart quickly. Cust got his obligatory hit off Wakefield (came in hitting .426 lifetime against) and Gutierrez walked. Ichiro then singled sharply to Reddick to load the bases and Brendan Ryan hit a grand slam over the Monster seats to cut the lead 11-7. That was it for Wakefield as Alfredo Aceves hurried in from the mound to replace him. Ackley flied out and Olivo popped up to end the frame. Josh Lueke replaced Wright and gave up a single to Reddick to open the bottom of the 7th. Saltalamacchia singled Reddick over the third and Ellsbury blooped home Reddick to increase the lead 12-7. Pedroia beat out a double play ball to move Saltalamacchia over to third but Gonzalez grounded out to first to end the inning.
Brandon League began warming up as Aceves returned for the 8th. Smoak grounded out to second but Carp blooped a single to short right. Kennedy struck out on 9 pitches and Cust hit a flyball to the warning track that Crawford snared to end the frame. League came on for the bottom of the 8th and struck out Navarro before getting Ortiz to ground out. Crawford walked but Reddick lined out to end the inning.

Aceves returned to finish off the game. Gutierrez singled to lead off but Ichiro grounded out to send Franklin to second. Ryan then grounded out before Ackley doubled home Gutierrez on Aceves' 40th pitch. Finally Olivo popped up to end the game. The Sox improve to a season's best 25 games over .500 at 62-37 and move on to face the Royals tomorrow night with Jon Lester (10-4. 3.31 ERA) returning to face slumping Kyle Davies (1-9, 7.32 ERA).